ADMINISTRATIVE

Follow up to Superintendent's Memorandum #174 Annual Report on Discipline, Crime and Violence: 1999-2000 Year

The purpose of this memo is to respond to a number of
questions that have been received related to
Superintendent's Memorandum #174, September 17, 1999, and to
provide revised data collection forms and instructions. The
Department of Education's intent is to combine and eliminate
duplication associated with four reports that require data
submission from school divisions (state Crime and Violence
report, federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
[IDEA], federal Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities
Act, and federal Gun Free Schools Act). Two of these four
reports (Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities Act, and
Gun Free Schools Act) require a level of detail not
previously requested. Further, the IDEA data requirements,
which were reported last year for the first time through the
Commission on Youth survey, will be collected through this
process.
Members of the DOE staff have reviewed the requirements for
data submission and have identified some adjustments to the
reporting requirements.
In Superintendent's Memorandum #174, September 17, 1999,
school divisions were asked to report ". any violation of
the local school board code of conduct policy . ." This is
to advise you that school divisions are only required to
report: a) incidents that include offenses identified on
the attached listing as required offense codes, whether or
not these incidents resulted in suspension or expulsion;
and b) discipline/sanctions resulting in long- or short-
term suspensions, expulsions, and placements in alternative
education settings. Some suspensions/expulsions may be the
result of a violation of the local code of conduct that is
not included in the list of required offenses. School
divisions should use the ". Other Code of Conduct Violation
(OT1) ." to report these suspensions or expulsions. These
data are required for the Crime and Violence Report and for
IDEA reporting.
The offense codes have been revised to provide two levels of
detail. School divisions are only obligated to use required
codes. The required codes meet state and federal
requirements. The optional codes will assist localities with
completion of the school safety audit, needs assessment,
planning, and potential grant opportunities. For example,
alcohol offenses must be reported, but more detailed
offenses such as use of alcohol versus possession of alcohol
are optional and would be useful in
local planning to address alcohol use in the school
division. In addition, at school divisions' requests, three
characters will be used to report required offense codes,
two letters and one numeral. You will note required offense
codes have been reduced from 117 to 48.
Also, the file descriptions have been reviewed and revised.
"In-school suspension" has been deleted from the
discipline/sanction reporting options.
A final expressed concern was the requirement to submit a
unique student identifier. A unique identifier is needed to
distinguish between individuals and incidents and to produce
unduplicated counts of students involved in incidents.
Assignment of the unique identifier is under the control of the
school division. School divisions may assign any number or text
string which uniquely identifies the student to the school.
Unique identifiers need not be the same from year to year. The
Department of Education maintains the confidentiality of student
information at all times and will not track individual students
or join this information with other databases.
This memorandum contains the following attachments:
Attachment A: Offense Codes
Attachment B: Definitions of Offense Codes
Attachment C: Excel File Description
Attachment D: ASCII File Description
Revised attachments will be posted on the DOE website.
Reporting requirements, the reporting process, and
associated issues will be addressed during a DOE Hour
telecast scheduled from 2:00 to 3:00 PM, Tuesday, October
26, 1999.
The discipline collection can be completed using either
Excel 5.0 or Excel 97. The discipline spreadsheet can be
downloaded from the Department of Education's website at
www.pen.k12.va.us by selecting "Data and Publications" and
then selecting "Discipline, Crime and Violence Data
Collection, 1999-2000" from the "Collections" listing. The
complete address is www.pen.k12.va.us/VDOE/Publications/
Discipline/datacoll.coll.htm to access the discipline spreadsheet.
Questions regarding use of the spreadsheet or ASCII flat
file should be directed to Janet Christopher, Management
Information Systems, at (804) 786-1212 or
jchristo@mail.vak12ed.edu.
The data will be due to the Department of Education on
September 15, 2000. Additional information regarding the
reporting process will be disseminated in a later memo.
We apologize for the challenges presented by this data
collection effort and for the timing of this request. The
Department of Education recognizes that the data required
for these reports are significant. The improved accuracy of
the data will assist educators and policymakers at the
federal, state, and local levels. If we have erred, we
erred on the side of maintaining a safe environment for
Virginia's children.
Questions regarding this information may be directed to Paul
Raskopf, Office of Special Education and Student Services;
(804) 225-2080, praskopf@pen.k12.va.us.
PDS/pjr
Attachments: A hard copy of this memo and its attachment
will be sent to the superintendent's office.
.